Saturday, July 15, 2006

On Ragging your Hair

I frequently receive emails with queries on how to rag hair so I thought I would save some time in the long run and give you a mini tutorial on the subject! I apologize that it is merely pictorial and not a video but for those of you unfortunate eyeballs that have borne witness to my past attempts at video tutorials this is truly for the best.

Step 1: Start by cutting up a dozen or so cotton rags about 1" thick and 7" to 8" long (depending on your hair length). In middle school I used to wear my hair in white rags to class but stopped when I was asked why I was wrapping my head in toilet paper. I've since made the switch to darker coloured rags - much less like toilet paper and I can't see how dirty they are, which I appreciate.

Step 2: Divide your hair into four quarters. Take a small bundle of hair on the top of your first quarter (for tighter curls take smaller bundles).

Step 3: Wrap the ends of your hair around the rag and roll it up.

Step 4: Tie your rag in a single knot. Don't double knot as you'll be pulling your hair out with frustration later.

Step 5: Congratulations! You have your first rag! Sit back and bask in the knowledge that tomorrow morning you will wake to a glorious set of twists.

Step 6: In each quarter do a top rag and a bottom rag (multiple per each quarter). Now you have a head full of balls! Go to sleep and dream of Eric Northman flying outside of your window.

Step 7: Unbind your rags to reveal a head of bouncy and exciting curls!

Please feel free to ask any questions regarding hair (ragging or otherwise) in this entry! I will be more than pleased to respond to them in the comments :).

Excellent question! Yes I do! But I should add that I have incredibly coarse and porous hair that holds styles pretty easily as a result, if you have fine or super soft hair you may have better luck with ragging if you do so with damp hair. :)

i keep attempting to rag my hair and each time i do it the results always end up being, um ...interesting. i've been doing it when my hair is damp (as it is quite wavy and thick and ends up falling out when i'm rolling it when it's dry) but i think that might be part of the problem as it often ends up being a damp mess in the morning and the curls haven't set properly and my hair just ends up doing it's own thing, ha. so i think i'll persevere with ragging when it's dry like you do. practice will hopefully eventually make perfect! i'm determined to have lots of lovely twists.

aaand i have now talked on for far too long! i'll end this with a small question - do you put anything in your hair to keep the curls in? on the rare occasions that i get it right my hair always seems to rapidly decrease in curlyness before the morning is out.

Oh, thanks so much for the raging tips!! So helpful now that my hair is getting longer. I've tried in the past, without much luck, but I'm feeling confident to try again.

I try to rat my hair and create a nice 60's bump at the crown and it never seems to keep it's shape unless it's clipped in place with a barrette. So I would love to know how you make yours look so awesome.

I have a question for you:How do you get so much volume at the crown? (do you use product, or is your hair layered?...) I have such a hard time keeping volume at the roots, my hair is heavy and always falls flat. Yours is just perfect!

Hi Maria and Kyssa, best advice I can offer for teasing is in the brush! A fine bristle brush (like this http://www.amazon.com/Mason-Pearson-Bristle-Nylon-Hairbrush/dp/B003JJWOGM/ref=pd_sim_bt_3 but less expensive maybe?) will work wonders especially if you have fine hair! Start with long backstrokes on your crown then continue to shorter tighter backstrokes until you have a super intense poof! Then you can flatten and press it down to desired puff level. If you have fine or soft hair try spraying it a bit before flattening it down. I hope this helps you ladies :).

If you want to be super old fashioned you can collect your hairbrush hairs and form them into a ball and fasten them under a layer of your hair on the crown of your head. It's great cos it (obviously) matches your hair colour! That may not be a tip for everybody though as I imagine most people would feel rather squeamish about securing their old hairs to their head, hehe.

I have yet to read the books but I really want to get started (I've read the storylines on wikipedia and already am so so so excited to see Eric and Sookie, err, unfold). HE WAS IN MY DREAMS LAST NIGHT AND IT FELT SO WEIRD. I never have romantic dreams about other men, let alone fictional vampire men!

I've only started rag curls recently--I generally pin curl instead--but for both I do the same as you and do it on dry hair. The curls come out so much softer that way! My hair is pin-pin-pin straight though, so I cheat and throw some rollers in it before I rag it, to keep the ends in (just in case that helps someone else!) and because I'm lazy.

Thanks for posting this! When I was at school, a friend of mine always used to get her mum to do this for her, and I always wanted to know how it was done. Now I do! I'll be trialling the process on my hair very soon :)- Matea

I have just rag curled my hair, I can't wait to see what morning brings me!

It was a bit tricky getting the hang of it and one of the rags came loose so I took it out and did it again, only to find a very curly piece of hair after only a couple of minutes. I hope I don't end up with curl overload in the morning.

Well my hair lived up to my expectations and I ended up with curl overload, the curls stayed in so well they wouldn't even drop they just stayed in the same position as they did when in rags! I had to straighten them all out before I went to work :(

Lyndsay, oh! hehe, I daresay your doing something right! very right! you may want to try taking larger bundles of hair though, that way your curls will be wider and more wavey! If you find it to much around the crown of your head only roll them up part way. :)

i always want to curl my hair but curling irons never seem to work with me (my hair is too soft and doesn't hold anything well) but i tried this last night on a few sections of hair & it worked wonders! and how cheap/easy! plus looking like a ragdoll while you wait is a bonus ;)

Dear Hannah, I've just started to read your blog and it is such a treasure. You have really lovely hair. This post is quite special as it reminds me of my 2 sisters and I rag curling our hair when we were young ladies. I would also go to school with my hair still in rags! Yeah for kindred spirits!By the way, I have very fine hair that I am growing long again. I'm wondering how you care for your hair(i.e.washing/frequency/products) Thank you! http://tumblr.violetcress.com

Ok so got my rags in and ready for bed! I am seriously excited to see the results, my hair has natural large curls but I'm looking forward so some extra definition. I remember my mum saying how she used to rag her hair, she's going to be delighted to hear I tried it, so thank you for the inspiration!

I'm doing an Alice in Wonderland themed shoot for my blog with my new powder blue Gunne Sax dress tomorrow (weather pending, it's Ireland after all), if it goes well I'll link you the results to see. If not assume the rags didn't do me any favours lol :@

I love the blog, I've gotten a hell of a lot of inspiration from here over the last few days, especially for photography. I just bougt a canon EOS1000D but never took a picture in my life before a few months ago so need all the help I can get! Thanks for sharing so much of your artistic talents with the world, we appreciate it xx

Ok so I'm officially HOOKED on ragging, I woke up this morning to unravel a most glorious head of bright red ringlets! Needless to say I was in an exceptionally good mood with those tight little curls bouncing up and down with every step I took! Oh an my Alice in Wonderland shoot went brilliantly and the ringlets suited the look perfectly, I'd love it if you had a peek:

Hi Hannah! I was wondering what you use to get you through the week when you don't wash your hair? Would you recommend dry shampoo? It looks like we have similar hair, but in the mornings my bangs are always wonky. Any tips would be great! Thanks! Melina

Hi Hannah, Thanks for this tutorial. I tried it and it is great. I love my hair like this!Although it is not as beautiful as yours I was really happy with it!(This is what it looked like:http://priscella-manon.blogspot.com/2010/10/wild-flowers-and-curly-hair.html)Thanks! Priscella